Device, method, and graphical user interface for performing character entry

ABSTRACT

A method of managing user interface content, including performing character entry without a keyboard, is disclosed. The method includes displaying a character entry area and a character selection indicia, wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in a plurality of characters; detecting a point of contact over the character selection indicia; in response to detecting the contact over the character selection indicia, displaying at a second predefined location distinct from the first predefined location a temporary character that represents a character to be selected; while displaying the temporary character, detecting a character selection gesture; and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selecting a character corresponding to the temporary character for placement in the character entry area.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate generally to portable electronicdevices, including but not limited to portable electronic devices withdisplays and touch-sensitive surfaces for character entry.

BACKGROUND

The use of computers and other electronic devices to manage and searchuser content has increased significantly in recent years, yet characterentry methods have remained largely the same. Exemplary devices thatinclude capabilities for managing user content include mobiletelephones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers,electronic book readers, consumer electronics, personal digitalassistants, and portable music and/or video players.

Many users rely on electronic devices for managing and searching foruser content, which often requires character input. Unfortunately, asmentioned above, character entry methods have remained largely the same.Accordingly, existing methods for managing user interface content,including performing character entry, are cumbersome and inefficient,particularly for small form-factor electronic devices where traditionalhard keyboards and soft keyboards may be difficult (or impossible) touse given device size and screen size constraints. In addition, existingmethods take longer than necessary, thereby wasting energy. This latterconsideration is particularly important in battery-operated devices.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for computing devices with faster, moreefficient methods and interfaces for managing user interface content,including performing character entry, without using either a hardkeyboard or a soft keyboard. Such methods and interfaces may complementor replace conventional methods for managing user interface content,including performing character entry. Such methods and interfaces reducethe cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficienthuman-machine interface. For battery-operated computing devices, suchmethods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time betweenbattery charges.

The above deficiencies and other problems associated with userinterfaces for electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces arereduced or eliminated by the disclosed devices. In some embodiments, thedevice is a desktop computer. In some embodiments, the device isportable (e.g., a notebook computer, tablet computer, or handhelddevice). In some embodiments, the device has a touchpad. In someembodiments, the device has a touch-sensitive display (also known as a“touch screen” or “touch screen display”). In some embodiments, thedevice has a graphical user interface (GUI), one or more processors,memory and one or more modules, programs or sets of instructions storedin the memory for performing multiple functions. In some embodiments,the user interacts with the GUI primarily through finger contacts andgestures on the touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments, thefunctions may include image editing, drawing, presenting, wordprocessing, website creating, disk authoring, spreadsheet making, gameplaying, telephoning, video conferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging,workout support, digital photographing, digital video recording, webbrowsing, digital music playing, and/or digital video playing.Executable instructions for performing these functions may be includedin a computer readable storage medium or other computer program productconfigured for execution by one or more processors.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at a portableelectronic device with a touch-sensitive display. The method includesdisplaying on the touch-sensitive display a character entry area and acharacter selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters,wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a firstpredefined location, and the character selection indicia includeslocations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality ofcharacters; detecting on the touch-sensitive display a point of contactby a user over the character selection indicia; in response to detectingthe point of contact over the character selection indicia, displaying onthe touch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinctfrom the first predefined location a temporary character that representsa character to be selected; while displaying the temporary character,detecting on the touch-sensitive display a character selection gesture;and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selectinga character corresponding to the temporary character for placement inthe character entry area and appending the character corresponding tothe temporary character to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device with atouch-sensitive display is provided. The portable electronic device hasone or more processors, memory, and one or more programs. The one ormore programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed bythe one or more processors. The one or more programs includeinstructions for: displaying on the touch-sensitive display a characterentry area and a character selection indicia that represents a pluralityof characters, wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at afirst predefined location, and the character selection indicia includeslocations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality ofcharacters; detecting on the touch-sensitive display a point of contactby a over the character selection indicia; in response to detecting thepoint of contact over the character selection indicia, displaying on thetouch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinct fromthe first predefined location a temporary character that represents acharacter to be selected; while displaying the temporary character,detecting on the touch-sensitive display a character selection gesture;and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selectinga character corresponding to the temporary character for placement inthe character entry area and appending the character corresponding tothe temporary character to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments there is a graphical user interfaceon a portable electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, amemory, and one or more processors to execute one or more programsstored in the memory. The graphical user interface includes a characterentry area and a character selection indicia that represents a pluralityof characters, the character entry area and character selection indiciabeing displayed on the touch sensitive display. The character selectionindicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the characterselection indicia includes locations corresponding to respectivecharacters in the plurality of characters. A point of contact isdetected over the character selection indicia, wherein the point ofcontact is detected on the touch-sensitive display. In response todetecting the point of contact over the character selection indicia, atemporary character is displayed on the touch-sensitive display at asecond predefined location distinct from the first predefined location,the temporary character representing a character to be selected. Whiledisplaying the temporary character, a character selection gesture isdetected on the touch-sensitive display. In response to detecting thecharacter selection gesture, a character corresponding to the temporarycharacter is selected for placement in the character entry area and thecharacter corresponding to the temporary character is appended to thecharacter entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage mediumhas stored therein one or more programs, the one or more programscomprising instructions, which when executed by a portable electronicdevice with a touch-sensitive display, cause the portable electronicdevice to display on the touch-sensitive display a character entry area,and a character selection indicia that represents a plurality ofcharacters, wherein, the character selection indicia is displayed at afirst predefined location, and the character selection indicia includeslocations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality ofcharacters; detect on the touch-sensitive display a point of contact bya over the character selection indicia; in response to detecting thepoint of contact over the character selection indicia, display on thetouch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinct fromthe first predefined location a temporary character that represents acharacter to be selected; while displaying the temporary character,detect on the touch-sensitive display a character selection gesture;and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture, select acharacter corresponding to the temporary character for placement in thecharacter entry area and append the character corresponding to thetemporary character to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic deviceincludes a touch-sensitive display, and means for displaying on thetouch-sensitive display a character entry area, and a characterselection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein thecharacter selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location,and the character selection indicia includes locations corresponding torespective characters in the plurality of characters; means fordetecting on the touch-sensitive display a point of contact by a overthe character selection indicia; in response to detecting the point ofcontact over the character selection indicia, means for displaying onthe touch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinctfrom the first predefined location a temporary character that representsa character to be selected; while displaying the temporary character,means for detecting on the touch-sensitive display a character selectiongesture; and, in response to detecting the character selection gesture,means for selecting a character corresponding to the temporary characterfor placement in the character entry area and means for appending thecharacter corresponding to the temporary character to the characterentry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, an information processing apparatusfor use in a portable electronic device includes a touch-sensitivedisplay, and means for displaying on the touch-sensitive display acharacter entry area, and a character selection indicia that representsa plurality of characters, wherein the character selection indicia isdisplayed at a first predefined location, and the character selectionindicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters; means for detecting on the touch-sensitivedisplay a point of contact by a over the character selection indicia; inresponse to detecting the point of contact over the character selectionindicia, means for displaying on the touch-sensitive display at a secondpredefined location distinct from the first predefined location atemporary character that represents a character to be selected; whiledisplaying the temporary character, means for detecting on thetouch-sensitive display a character selection gesture; and, in responseto detecting the character selection gesture, means for selecting acharacter corresponding to the temporary character for placement in thecharacter entry area and means for appending the character correspondingto the temporary character to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at a portableelectronic device with a touch-sensitive surface and a display. Themethod includes displaying on the display a character entry area, and acharacter selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters,wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a firstpredefined location on the display, and the character selection indiciaincludes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters; detecting on the touch-sensitive surface apoint of contact by a user at a location that corresponds to thedisplayed character selection indicia; in response to detecting on thetouch-sensitive surface the point of contact at the location thatcorresponds to the displayed character selection indicia, displaying onthe display at a second predefined location distinct from the firstpredefined location a temporary character that represents a character tobe selected; while displaying the temporary character, detecting on thetouch-sensitive surface a character selection gesture; and in responseto detecting the character selection gesture, selecting a charactercorresponding to the temporary character for placement in the characterentry area and appending the character corresponding to the temporarycharacter to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic device with atouch-sensitive surface and a display is provided. The portableelectronic device has one or more processors, memory, and one or moreprograms. The one or more programs are stored in the memory andconfigured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or moreprograms include instructions for displaying on the display a characterentry area, and a character selection indicia that represents aplurality of characters, wherein the character selection indicia isdisplayed at a first predefined location on the display, and thecharacter selection indicia includes locations corresponding torespective characters in the plurality of characters; detecting on thetouch-sensitive surface a point of contact by a user at a location thatcorresponds to the displayed character selection indicia; in response todetecting on the touch-sensitive surface the point of contact at thelocation that corresponds to the displayed character selection indicia,displaying on the display at a second predefined location distinct fromthe first predefined location a temporary character that represents acharacter to be selected; while displaying the temporary character,detecting on the touch-sensitive surface a character selection gesture;and in response to detecting the character selection gesture, selectinga character corresponding to the temporary character for placement inthe character entry area and appending the character corresponding tothe temporary character to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments there is a graphical user interfaceon a portable electronic device with a touch-sensitive surface and adisplay, a memory, and one or more processors to execute one or moreprograms stored in the memory. The graphical user interface includes acharacter entry area and a character selection indicia that represents aplurality of characters, the character entry area and the characterselection indicia being displayed on the display. The characterselection indicia is displayed at a first predefined location on thedisplay, and the character selection indicia includes locationscorresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters. Apoint of contact by a user is detected on the touch-sensitive surface ata location that corresponds to the displayed character selectionindicia. In response to detecting on the touch-sensitive surface thepoint of contact at the location that corresponds to the displayedcharacter selection indicia, a temporary character is displayed on thedisplay at a second predefined location distinct from the firstpredefined location, the temporary character representing a character tobe selected. While displaying the temporary character, a characterselection gesture is detected on the touch-sensitive surface. Inresponse to detecting the character selection gesture, a charactercorresponding to the temporary character is selected for placement inthe character entry area and the character corresponding to thetemporary character is appended to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage mediumhas stored therein one or more programs, the one or more programscomprising instructions, which when executed by a portable electronicdevice with a touch-sensitive surface and a display, cause the portableelectronic device to display on the display a character entry area, anda character selection indicia that represents a plurality of characters,wherein the character selection indicia is displayed at a firstpredefined location on the display, and the character selection indiciaincludes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters; detect on the touch-sensitive surface a pointof contact by a user at a location that corresponds to the displayedcharacter selection indicia; in response to detecting on thetouch-sensitive surface the point of contact at the location thatcorresponds to the displayed character selection indicia, display on thedisplay at a second predefined location distinct from the firstpredefined location a temporary character that represents a character tobe selected; while displaying the temporary character, detect on thetouch-sensitive surface a character selection gesture; and in responseto detecting the character selection gesture, select a charactercorresponding to the temporary character for placement in the characterentry area and append the character corresponding to the temporarycharacter to the character entry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, a portable electronic deviceincludes a touch-sensitive surface and a display, and means fordisplaying on the display a character entry area, and a characterselection indicia that represents a plurality of characters, wherein thecharacter selection indicia is displayed at a first predefined locationon the display, and the character selection indicia includes locationscorresponding to respective characters in the plurality of characters;means for detecting on the touch-sensitive surface a point of contact bya user at a location that corresponds to the displayed characterselection indicia; in response to detecting on the touch-sensitivesurface the point of contact at the location that corresponds to thedisplayed character selection indicia, means for displaying on thedisplay at a second predefined location distinct from the firstpredefined location a temporary character that represents a character tobe selected; while displaying the temporary character, means fordetecting on the touch-sensitive surface a character selection gesture;and in response to detecting the character selection gesture, means forselecting a character corresponding to the temporary character forplacement in the character entry area and means for appending thecharacter corresponding to the temporary character to the characterentry area.

In accordance with some embodiments, an information processing apparatusfor use in a portable electronic device includes a touch-sensitivesurface and a display, and means for displaying on the display acharacter entry area, and a character selection indicia that representsa plurality of characters, wherein the character selection indicia isdisplayed at a first predefined location on the display, and thecharacter selection indicia includes locations corresponding torespective characters in the plurality of characters; means fordetecting on the touch-sensitive surface a point of contact by a user ata location that corresponds to the displayed character selectionindicia; in response to detecting on the touch-sensitive surface thepoint of contact at the location that corresponds to the displayedcharacter selection indicia, means for displaying on the display at asecond predefined location distinct from the first predefined location atemporary character that represents a character to be selected; whiledisplaying the temporary character, means for detecting on thetouch-sensitive surface a character selection gesture; and in responseto detecting the character selection gesture, means for selecting acharacter corresponding to the temporary character for placement in thecharacter entry area and means for appending the character correspondingto the temporary character to the character entry area.

Thus, the computing devices disclosed herein are provided with faster,more efficient methods and interfaces for managing user interfacecontent, including performing character entry, without using a keyboard,thereby increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfactionwith such devices. Such methods and interfaces may complement or replaceconventional methods for managing user interface content that includeperforming character entry.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the aforementioned embodiments of theinvention as well as additional embodiments thereof, reference should bemade to the Description of Embodiments below, in conjunction with thefollowing drawings in which like reference numerals refer tocorresponding parts throughout the figures.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams illustrating portable multifunctiondevices with touch-sensitive displays in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device having a touch screenin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates an exemplary portable electronic device with atouch-screen in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate exemplary user interfaces for a menu ofapplications on a portable multifunction device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4C illustrates an exemplary user interface for a multifunctiondevice with a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the displayin accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 5A-5V illustrate exemplary user interfaces for managing userinterface content, including performing character entry, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIGS. 6A-6B are flow diagrams illustrating a method of managing userinterface content, including performing character entry, in accordancewith some embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detaileddescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspectsof the embodiments.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed asecond contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a firstcontact, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thefirst contact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are notthe same contact.

The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description ofthe invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that theterm “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon”or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” dependingon the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [astated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [thestated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the statedcondition or event],” depending on the context.

As used herein, the term “resolution” of a display refers to the numberof pixels (also called “pixel counts” or “pixel resolution”) along eachaxis or in each dimension of the display. For example, a display mayhave a resolution of 320×480 pixels. Furthermore, as used herein, theterm “resolution” of a multifunction device refers to the resolution ofa display in the multifunction device. The term “resolution” does notimply any limitations on the size of each pixel or the spacing ofpixels. For example, compared to a first display with a 1024×768-pixelresolution, a second display with a 320×480-pixel resolution has a lowerresolution. However, it should be noted that the physical size of adisplay depends not only on the pixel resolution, but also on many otherfactors, including the pixel size and the spacing of pixels. Therefore,the first display may have the same, smaller, or larger physical size,compared to the second display.

As used herein, the term “video resolution” of a display refers to thedensity of pixels along each axis or in each dimension of the display.The video resolution is often measured in a dots-per-inch (DPI) unit,which counts the number of pixels that can be placed in a line withinthe span of one inch along a respective dimension of the display.

Embodiments of computing devices, user interfaces for such devices, andassociated processes for using such devices are described. In someembodiments, the computing device is a portable communications device,such as a mobile telephone, that also contains other functions, such asPDA and/or music player functions. Exemplary embodiments of portablemultifunction devices include, without limitation, the iPhone® and iPodTouch® devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Other portabledevices, such as laptops or tablet computers with touch-sensitivesurfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touch pads), may also beused. It should also be understood that, in some embodiments, the deviceis not a portable communications device, but is a desktop computer witha touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad).

In the discussion that follows, a computing device that includes adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface is described. It should beunderstood, however, that the computing device may include one or moreother physical user-interface devices, such as a physical keyboard, amouse and/or a joystick.

The device supports a variety of applications, such as one or more ofthe following: a drawing application, a presentation application, a wordprocessing application, a website creation application, a disk authoringapplication, a spreadsheet application, a gaming application, atelephone application, a video conferencing application, an e-mailapplication, an instant messaging application, a workout supportapplication, a photo management application, a digital cameraapplication, a digital video camera application, a web browsingapplication, a digital music player application, and/or a digital videoplayer application.

The various applications that may be executed on the device may use atleast one common physical user-interface device, such as thetouch-sensitive surface. One or more functions of the touch-sensitivesurface as well as corresponding information displayed on the device maybe adjusted and/or varied from one application to the next and/or withina respective application. In this way, a common physical architecture(such as the touch-sensitive surface) of the device may support thevariety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive andtransparent to the user.

The user interfaces may include one or more soft keyboard embodiments.The soft keyboard embodiments may include standard (QWERTY) and/ornon-standard configurations of symbols on the displayed icons of thekeyboard, such as those described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.11/459,606, “Keyboards For Portable Electronic Devices,” filed Jul. 24,2006, and 11/459,615, “Touch Screen Keyboards For Portable ElectronicDevices,” filed Jul. 24, 2006, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties. The keyboard embodimentsmay include a reduced number of icons (or soft keys) relative to thenumber of keys in existing physical keyboards, such as that for atypewriter. This may make it easier for users to select one or moreicons in the keyboard, and thus, one or more corresponding symbols. Thekeyboard embodiments may be adaptive. For example, displayed icons maybe modified in accordance with user actions, such as selecting one ormore icons and/or one or more corresponding symbols. One or moreapplications on the device may utilize common and/or different keyboardembodiments. Thus, the keyboard embodiment used may be tailored to atleast some of the applications. In some embodiments, one or morekeyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective user. For example,one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective userbased on a word usage history (lexicography, slang, individual usage) ofthe respective user. Some of the keyboard embodiments may be adjusted toreduce a probability of a user error when selecting one or more icons,and thus one or more symbols, when using the soft keyboard embodiments.

Attention is now directed toward embodiments of portable devices withtouch-sensitive displays. FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagramsillustrating portable multifunction devices 100 with touch-sensitivedisplays 112 in accordance with some embodiments. Touch-sensitivedisplay 112 is sometimes called a “touch screen” for convenience, andmay also be known as or called a touch-sensitive display system. Device100 may include memory 102 (which may include one or more computerreadable storage mediums), memory controller 122, one or more processingunits (CPU's) 120, peripherals interface 118, RF circuitry 108, audiocircuitry 110, speaker 111, microphone 113, input/output (I/O) subsystem106, other input or control devices 116, and external port 124. Device100 may include one or more optical sensors 164. These components maycommunicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines 103.

It should be appreciated that device 100 is only one example of aportable multifunction device, and that device 100 may have more orfewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or mayhave a different configuration or arrangement of the components. Thevarious components shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B may be implemented inhardware, software, or a combination of both hardware and software,including one or more signal processing and/or application specificintegrated circuits.

Memory 102 may include high-speed random access memory and may alsoinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memorydevices. Access to memory 102 by other components of device 100, such asCPU 120 and the peripherals interface 118, may be controlled by memorycontroller 122.

Peripherals interface 118 can be used to couple input and outputperipherals of the device to CPU 120 and memory 102. The one or moreprocessors 120 run or execute various software programs and/or sets ofinstructions stored in memory 102 to perform various functions fordevice 100 and to process data.

In some embodiments, peripherals interface 118, CPU 120, and memorycontroller 122 may be implemented on a single chip, such as chip 104. Insome other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

RF (radio frequency) circuitry 108 receives and sends RF signals, alsocalled electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 converts electricalsignals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates withcommunications networks and other communications devices via theelectromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 may include well-knowncircuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited toan antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner,one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, asubscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RFcircuitry 108 may communicate with networks, such as the Internet, alsoreferred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wirelessnetwork, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local areanetwork (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and otherdevices by wireless communication. The wireless communication may useany of a plurality of communications standards, protocols andtechnologies, including but not limited to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speeddownlink packet access (HSDPA), wideband code division multiple access(W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and/or IEEE 802.11n), voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for e-mail (e.g., Internet messageaccess protocol (IMAP) and/or post office protocol (POP)), instantmessaging (e.g., extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP),Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and PresenceLeveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messaging and Presence Service(IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service (SMS), or any other suitablecommunication protocol, including communication protocols not yetdeveloped as of the filing date of this document.

Audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, and microphone 113 provide an audiointerface between a user and device 100. Audio circuitry 110 receivesaudio data from peripherals interface 118, converts the audio data to anelectrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker 111.Speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves.Audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted bymicrophone 113 from sound waves. Audio circuitry 110 converts theelectrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data toperipherals interface 118 for processing. Audio data may be retrievedfrom and/or transmitted to memory 102 and/or RF circuitry 108 byperipherals interface 118. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 110 alsoincludes a headset jack (e.g., 212, FIG. 2). The headset jack providesan interface between audio circuitry 110 and removable audioinput/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headsetwith both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input(e.g., a microphone).

I/O subsystem 106 couples input/output peripherals on device 100, suchas touch screen 112 and other input control devices 116, to peripheralsinterface 118. I/O subsystem 106 may include display controller 156 andone or more input controllers 160 for other input or control devices.The one or more input controllers 160 receive/send electrical signalsfrom/to other input or control devices 116. The other input controldevices 116 may include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rockerbuttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and soforth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s) 160 may becoupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, infrared port,USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons(e.g., 208, FIG. 2) may include an up/down button for volume control ofspeaker 111 and/or microphone 113. The one or more buttons may include apush button (e.g., 206, FIG. 2). A quick press of the push button maydisengage a lock of touch screen 112 or begin a process that usesgestures on the touch screen to unlock the device, as described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549, “Unlocking a Device byPerforming Gestures on an Unlock Image,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A longer press of thepush button (e.g., 206) may turn power to device 100 on or off. The usermay be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons.Touch screen 112 is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one ormore soft keyboards.

Touch-sensitive display 112 provides an input interface and an outputinterface between the device and a user. Display controller 156 receivesand/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen 112. Touch screen112 displays visual output to the user. The visual output may includegraphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectivelytermed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visualoutput may correspond to user-interface objects.

Touch screen 112 has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensorsthat accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact.Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 (along with any associatedmodules and/or sets of instructions in memory 102) detect contact (andany movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen 112 andconverts the detected contact into interaction with user-interfaceobjects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages or images) thatare displayed on touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, a pointof contact between touch screen 112 and the user corresponds to a fingerof the user.

Touch screen 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD(light emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light emittingdiode) technology, although other display technologies may be used inother embodiments. Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 maydetect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of aplurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed,including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, andsurface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensorarrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contactwith touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutualcapacitance sensing technology is used, such as that found in theiPhone® and iPod Touch® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may beanalogous to the multi-touch sensitive touchpads described in thefollowing U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), 6,570,557(Westerman et al.), and/or 6,677,932 (Westerman), and/or U.S. PatentPublication 2002/0015024A1, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. However, touch screen 112 displays visualoutput from portable device 100, whereas touch sensitive touchpads donot provide visual output.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may beas described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May 2,2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “MultipointTouchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30,2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures ForTouch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User InterfacesFor Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On ATouch Screen User Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A TouchScreen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen VirtualKeyboard,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006. Allof these applications are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

Touch screen 112 may have a video resolution in excess of 100 dpi. Insome embodiments, the touch screen has a video resolution ofapproximately 160 dpi. The user may make contact with touch screen 112using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, andso forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to workprimarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which can be lessprecise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of afinger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translatesthe rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position orcommand for performing the actions desired by the user.

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device 100 mayinclude a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particularfunctions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive areaof the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visualoutput. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separatefrom touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surfaceformed by the touch screen.

In some embodiments, device 100 may include a physical or virtual wheel(e.g., a click wheel) as input control device 116. A user may navigateamong and interact with one or more graphical objects (e.g., icons)displayed in touch screen 112 by rotating the click wheel or by moving apoint of contact with the click wheel (e.g., where the amount ofmovement of the point of contact is measured by its angular displacementwith respect to a center point of the click wheel). The click wheel mayalso be used to select one or more of the displayed icons. For example,the user may press down on at least a portion of the click wheel or anassociated button. User commands and navigation commands provided by theuser via the click wheel may be processed by input controller 160 aswell as one or more of the modules and/or sets of instructions in memory102. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel and click wheelcontroller may be part of touch screen 112 and display controller 156,respectively. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel may be eitheran opaque or semitransparent object that appears and disappears on thetouch screen display in response to user interaction with the device. Insome embodiments, a virtual click wheel is displayed on the touch screenof a portable multifunction device and operated by user contact with thetouch screen.

Device 100 also includes power system 162 for powering the variouscomponents. Power system 162 may include a power management system, oneor more power sources (e.g., battery, alternating current (AC)), arecharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converteror inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode(LED)) and any other components associated with the generation,management and distribution of power in portable devices.

Device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164. FIGS. 1Aand 1B show an optical sensor coupled to optical sensor controller 158in I/O subsystem 106. Optical sensor 164 may include charge-coupleddevice (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)phototransistors. Optical sensor 164 receives light from theenvironment, projected through one or more lens, and converts the lightto data representing an image. In conjunction with imaging module 143(also called a camera module), optical sensor 164 may capture stillimages or video. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located onthe back of device 100, opposite touch screen display 112 on the frontof the device, so that the touch screen display may be used as aviewfinder for still and/or video image acquisition. In someembodiments, an optical sensor is located on the front of the device sothat the user's image may be obtained for videoconferencing while theuser views the other video conference participants on the touch screendisplay. In some embodiments, the position of optical sensor 164 can bechanged by the user (e.g., by rotating the lens and the sensor in thedevice housing) so that a single optical sensor 164 may be used alongwith the touch screen display for both video conferencing and stilland/or video image acquisition.

Device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166. FIGS. 1Aand 1B show proximity sensor 166 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, proximity sensor 166 may be coupled to input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. Proximity sensor 166 may perform as described inU.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/241,839, “Proximity Detector InHandheld Device”; 11/240,788, “Proximity Detector In Handheld Device”;11/620,702, “Using Ambient Light Sensor To Augment Proximity SensorOutput”; 11/586,862, “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User ActivityIn Portable Devices”; and 11/638,251, “Methods And Systems For AutomaticConfiguration Of Peripherals,” which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety. In some embodiments, the proximity sensorturns off and disables touch screen 112 when the multifunction device isplaced near the user's ear (e.g., when the user is making a phone call).

Device 100 may also include one or more accelerometers 168. FIGS. 1A and1B show accelerometer 168 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, accelerometer 168 may be coupled to an input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. Accelerometer 168 may perform as described in U.S.Patent Publication No. 20050190059, “Acceleration-based Theft DetectionSystem for Portable Electronic Devices,” and U.S. Patent Publication No.20060017692, “Methods And Apparatuses For Operating A Portable DeviceBased On An Accelerometer,” both of which are which are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety. In some embodiments, information isdisplayed on the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscapeview based on an analysis of data received from the one or moreaccelerometers. Device 100 optionally includes, in addition toaccelerometer(s) 168, a magnetometer (not shown) and a GPS (or GLONASSor other global navigation system) receiver (not shown) for obtaininginformation concerning the location and orientation (e.g., portrait orlandscape) of device 100.

In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 102include operating system 126, communication module (or set ofinstructions) 128, contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 130,graphics module (or set of instructions) 132, text input module (or setof instructions) 134, Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set ofinstructions) 135, and applications (or sets of instructions) 136.Furthermore, in some embodiments memory 102 stores device/globalinternal state 157, as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 3. Device/globalinternal state 157 includes one or more of: active application state,indicating which applications, if any, are currently active; displaystate, indicating what applications, views or other information occupyvarious regions of touch screen display 112; sensor state, includinginformation obtained from the device's various sensors and input controldevices 116; and location information concerning the device's locationand/or attitude.

Operating system 126 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, oran embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various softwarecomponents and/or drivers for controlling and managing general systemtasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, powermanagement, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardwareand software components.

Communication module 128 facilitates communication with other devicesover one or more external ports 124 and also includes various softwarecomponents for handling data received by RF circuitry 108 and/orexternal port 124. External port 124 (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB),FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices orindirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). Insome embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin)connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with the30-pin connector used on iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect contact with touch screen 112 (inconjunction with display controller 156) and other touch sensitivedevices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). Contact/motionmodule 130 includes various software components for performing variousoperations related to detection of contact, such as determining ifcontact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-down event), determiningif there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across thetouch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one or more finger-draggingevents), and determining if the contact has ceased (e.g., detecting afinger-up event or a break in contact). Contact/motion module 130receives contact data from the touch-sensitive surface. Determiningmovement of the point of contact, which is represented by a series ofcontact data, may include determining speed (magnitude), velocity(magnitude and direction), and/or an acceleration (a change in magnitudeand/or direction) of the point of contact. These operations may beapplied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiplesimultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). Insome embodiments, contact/motion module 130 and display controller 156detects contact on a touchpad. In some embodiments, contact/motionmodule 130 and controller 160 detects contact on a click wheel.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect a gesture input by a user.Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contactpatterns. Thus, a gesture may be detected by detecting a particularcontact pattern. For example, detecting a finger tap gesture includesdetecting a finger-down event followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially the same position) asthe finger-down event (e.g., at the position of an icon). As anotherexample, detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch-sensitive surfaceincludes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting one or morefinger-dragging events, and subsequently followed by detecting afinger-up (lift off) event.

Graphics module 132 includes various known software components forrendering and displaying graphics on touch screen 112 or other display,including components for changing the intensity of graphics that aredisplayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object thatcan be displayed to a user, including without limitation text, webpages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys),digital images, videos, animations and the like.

In some embodiments, graphics module 132 stores data representinggraphics to be used. Each graphic may be assigned a corresponding code.Graphics module 132 receives, from applications etc., one or more codesspecifying graphics to be displayed along with, if necessary, coordinatedata and other graphic property data, and then generates screen imagedata to output to display controller 156.

Text input module 134, which may be a component of graphics module 132,provides character selection indicia, temporary characters, and softkeyboards for entering text in various applications (e.g., contacts 137,e-mail 140, IM 141, browser 147, music player module 146, video playermodule 145, video and music player module 152, and any other applicationthat needs text input).

GPS module 135 determines the location of the device and provides thisinformation for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 138 foruse in location-based dialing, to camera 143 as picture/video metadata,and to applications that provide location-based services such as weatherwidgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).

Applications 136 may include the following modules (or sets ofinstructions), or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   contacts module 137 (sometimes called an address book or contact        list);    -   telephone module 138;    -   video conferencing module 139;    -   e-mail client module 140;    -   instant messaging (IM) module 141;    -   workout support module 142;    -   camera module 143 for still and/or video images;    -   image management module 144;    -   video player module 145;    -   music player module 146;    -   browser module 147;    -   calendar module 148;    -   widget modules 149, which may include one or more of: weather        widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,        alarm clock widget 149-4, dictionary widget 149-5, and other        widgets obtained by the user, as well as user-created widgets        149-6;    -   widget creator module 150 for making user-created widgets 149-6;    -   search module 151;    -   video and music player module 152, which merges video player        module 145 and music player module 146;    -   notes module 153;    -   map module 154; and/or    -   online video module 155.

Examples of other applications 136 that may be stored in memory 102include other word processing applications, other image editingapplications, drawing applications, presentation applications,JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voicerecognition, and voice replication.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, contactsmodule 137 may be used to manage an address book or contact list (e.g.,stored in application internal state 192 of contacts module 137 inmemory 102 or memory 370), including: adding name(s) to the addressbook; deleting name(s) from the address book; associating telephonenumber(s), e-mail address(es), physical address(es) or other informationwith a name; associating an image with a name; categorizing and sortingnames; providing telephone numbers or e-mail addresses to initiateand/or facilitate communications by telephone 138, video conference 139,e-mail 140, or IM 141; and so forth.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact module130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, telephone module138 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to atelephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in address book137, modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial a respectivetelephone number, conduct a conversation and disconnect or hang up whenthe conversation is completed. As noted above, the wirelesscommunication may use any of a plurality of communications standards,protocols and technologies.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, optical sensor164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130, graphics module132, text input module 134, contact list 137, and telephone module 138,videoconferencing module 139 includes executable instructions toinitiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a user andone or more other participants in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140 includes executable instructions tocreate, send, receive, and manage e-mail in response to userinstructions. In conjunction with image management module 144, e-mailclient module 140 makes it very easy to create and send e-mails withstill or video images taken with camera module 143.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, the instant messaging module 141 includes executableinstructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to aninstant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit arespective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service(SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-basedinstant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-basedinstant messages), to receive instant messages and to view receivedinstant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or receivedinstant messages may include graphics, photos, audio files, video filesand/or other attachments as are supported in a MMS and/or an EnhancedMessaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers toboth telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) andInternet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, orIMPS).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, map module 154, and music player module 146,workout support module 142 includes executable instructions to createworkouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burning goals);communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receive workoutsensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; select andplay music for a workout; and display, store and transmit workout data.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, opticalsensor(s) 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130,graphics module 132, and image management module 144, camera module 143includes executable instructions to capture still images or video(including a video stream) and store them into memory 102, modifycharacteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image orvideo from memory 102.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and cameramodule 143, image management module 144 includes executable instructionsto arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate, label, delete,present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/orvideo images.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, and speaker 111,video player module 145 includes executable instructions to display,present or otherwise play back videos (e.g., on touch screen 112 or onan external, connected display via external port 124).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, and browser module 147, music player module 146includes executable instructions that allow the user to download andplay back recorded music and other sound files stored in one or morefile formats, such as MP3 or AAC files. In some embodiments, device 100may include the functionality of an MP3 player, such as an iPod(trademark of Apple Inc.).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, browser module 147 includes executable instructions tobrowse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, includingsearching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portionsthereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140, and browser module 147, calendarmodule 148 includes executable instructions to create, display, modify,and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g., calendarentries, to do lists, etc.) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, widget modules 149 aremini-applications that may be downloaded and used by a user (e.g.,weather widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,alarm clock widget 149-4, and dictionary widget 149-5) or created by theuser (e.g., user-created widget 149-6). In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (CascadingStyle Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file(e.g., Yahoo! Widgets).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, the widget creator module 150 may beused by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specified portionof a web page into a widget).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134,search module 151 includes executable instructions to search for text,music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory 102 that matchone or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specified searchterms) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, notes module153 includes executable instructions to create and manage notes, to dolists, and the like in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, and browser module 147, map module 154 maybe used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associatedwith maps (e.g., driving directions; data on stores and other points ofinterest at or near a particular location; and other location-baseddata) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, text input module 134, e-mail client module 140,and browser module 147, online video module 155 includes instructionsthat allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., by streamingand/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or on anexternal, connected display via external port 124), send an e-mail witha link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage online videosin one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments, instantmessaging module 141, rather than e-mail client module 140, is used tosend a link to a particular online video. Additional description of theonline video application can be found in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/936,562, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, andGraphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Jun. 20,2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/968,067, “PortableMultifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for PlayingOnline Videos,” filed Dec. 31, 2007, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

Each of the above identified modules and applications correspond to aset of executable instructions for performing one or more functionsdescribed above and the methods described in this application (e.g., thecomputer-implemented methods and other information processing methodsdescribed herein). These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need notbe implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, andthus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwisere-arranged in various embodiments. For example, video player module 145may be combined with music player module 146 into a single module (e.g.,video and music player module 152, FIG. 1B). In some embodiments, memory102 may store a subset of the modules and data structures identifiedabove. Furthermore, memory 102 may store additional modules and datastructures not described above.

In some embodiments, device 100 is a device where operation of apredefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/ora touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device100, the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons,dials, and the like) on device 100 may be reduced.

The predefined set of functions that may be performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad include navigation between userinterfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user,navigates device 100 to a main, home, or root menu from any userinterface that may be displayed on device 100. In such embodiments, thetouchpad may be referred to as a “menu button.” In some otherembodiments, the menu button may be a physical push button or otherphysical input control device instead of a touchpad.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments,memory 102 (in FIGS. 1A and 1B) or 370 (FIG. 3) includes event sorter170 (e.g., in operating system 126) and a respective application 136-1(e.g., any of the aforementioned applications 137-151, 155, 380-390).

Event sorter 170 receives event information and determines theapplication 136-1 and application view 191 of application 136-1 to whichto deliver the event information. Event sorter 170 includes eventmonitor 171 and event dispatcher module 174. In some embodiments,application 136-1 includes application internal state 192, whichindicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch sensitivedisplay 112 when the application is active or executing. In someembodiments, device/global internal state 157 is used by event sorter170 to determine which application(s) is (are) currently active, andapplication internal state 192 is used by event sorter 170 to determineapplication views 191 to which to deliver event information.

In some embodiments, application internal state 192 includes additionalinformation, such as one or more of: resume information to be used whenapplication 136-1 resumes execution, user interface state informationthat indicates information being displayed or that is ready for displayby application 136-1, a state queue for enabling the user to go back toa prior state or view of application 136-1, and a redo/undo queue ofprevious actions taken by the user.

Event monitor 171 receives event information from peripherals interface118. Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., auser touch on touch-sensitive display 112, as part of a multi-touchgesture). Peripherals interface 118 transmits information it receivesfrom I/O subsystem 106 or a sensor, such as proximity sensor 166,accelerometer(s) 168, and/or microphone 113 (through audio circuitry110). Information that peripherals interface 118 receives from I/Osubsystem 106 includes information from touch-sensitive display 112 or atouch-sensitive surface.

In some embodiments, event monitor 171 sends requests to the peripheralsinterface 118 at predetermined intervals. In response, peripheralsinterface 118 transmits event information. In other embodiments,peripheral interface 118 transmits event information only when there isa significant event (e.g., receiving an input beyond a predeterminednoise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration).

In some embodiments, event sorter 170 also includes a hit viewdetermination module 172 and/or an active event recognizer determinationmodule 173.

Hit view determination module 172 provides software procedures fordetermining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more views,when touch sensitive display 112 displays more than one view. Views aremade up of controls and other elements that a user can see on thedisplay.

Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is aset views, sometimes herein called application views or user interfacewindows, in which information is displayed and touch-based gesturesoccur. The application views (of a respective application) in which atouch is detected may correspond to programmatic levels within aprogrammatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, thelowest level view in which a touch is detected may be called the hitview, and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs may bedetermined based, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touchthat begins a touch-based gesture.

Hit view determination module 172 receives information related tosub-events of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multipleviews organized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module 172identifies a hit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which shouldhandle the sub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowestlevel view in which an initiating sub-event occurs (i.e., the firstsub-event in the sequence of sub-events that form an event or potentialevent). Once the hit view is identified by the hit view determinationmodule, the hit view typically receives all sub-events related to thesame touch or input source for which it was identified as the hit view.

Active event recognizer determination module 173 determines which viewor views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence ofsub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determinationmodule 173 determines that only the hit view should receive a particularsequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizerdetermination module 173 determines that all views that include thephysical location of a sub-event are actively involved views, andtherefore determines that all actively involved views should receive aparticular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touchsub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with oneparticular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain asactively involved views.

Event dispatcher module 174 dispatches the event information to an eventrecognizer (e.g., event recognizer 180). In embodiments including activeevent recognizer determination module 173, event dispatcher module 174delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined byactive event recognizer determination module 173. In some embodiments,event dispatcher module 174 stores in an event queue the eventinformation, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver module182.

In some embodiments, operating system 126 includes event sorter 170.Alternatively, application 136-1 includes event sorter 170. In yet otherembodiments, event sorter 170 is a stand-alone module, or a part ofanother module stored in memory 102, such as contact/motion module 130.

In some embodiments, application 136-1 includes a plurality of eventhandlers 190 and one or more application views 191, each of whichincludes instructions for handling touch events that occur within arespective view of the application's user interface. Each applicationview 191 of the application 136-1 includes one or more event recognizers180. Typically, a respective application view 191 includes a pluralityof event recognizers 180. In other embodiments, one or more of eventrecognizers 180 are part of a separate module, such as a user interfacekit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application 136-1inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent handler 190 includes one or more of: data updater 176, objectupdater 177, GUI updater 178, and/or event data 179 received from eventsorter 170. Event handler 190 may utilize or call data updater 176,object updater 177 or GUI updater 178 to update the application internalstate 192. Alternatively, one or more of the application views 191includes one or more respective event handlers 190. Also, in someembodiments, one or more of data updater 176, object updater 177, andGUI updater 178 are included in a respective application view 191.

A respective event recognizer 180 receives event information (e.g.,event data 179) from event sorter 170, and identifies an event from theevent information. Event recognizer 180 includes event receiver 182 andevent comparator 184. In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 alsoincludes at least a subset of: metadata 183, and event deliveryinstructions 188 (which may include sub-event delivery instructions).

Event receiver 182 receives event information from event sorter 170. Theevent information includes information about a sub-event, for example, atouch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the eventinformation also includes additional information, such as location ofthe sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch the eventinformation may also include speed and direction of the sub-event. Insome embodiments, events include rotation of the device from oneorientation to another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscapeorientation, or vice versa), and the event information includescorresponding information about the current orientation (also calleddevice attitude) of the device.

Event comparator 184 compares the event information to predefined eventor sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines anevent or sub-event, or determines or updates the state of an event orsub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator 184 includes eventdefinitions 186. Event definitions 186 contain definitions of events(e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1(187-1), event 2 (187-2), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events inan event 187 include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touchmovement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, thedefinition for event 1 (187-1) is a double tap on a displayed object.The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) onthe displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on thedisplayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition forevent 2 (187-2) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, forexample, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for apredetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitivedisplay 112, and lift-off of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments,the event also includes information for one or more associated eventhandlers 190.

In some embodiments, event definition 187 includes a definition of anevent for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, eventcomparator 184 performs a hit test to determine which user-interfaceobject is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an applicationview in which three user-interface objects are displayed ontouch-sensitive display 112, when a touch is detected on touch-sensitivedisplay 112, event comparator 184 performs a hit test to determine whichof the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch(sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respectiveevent handler 190, the event comparator uses the result of the hit testto determine which event handler 190 should be activated. For example,event comparator 184 selects an event handler associated with thesub-event and the object triggering the hit test.

In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event 187 alsoincludes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event informationuntil after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-eventsdoes or does not correspond to the event recognizer's event type.

When a respective event recognizer 180 determines that the series ofsub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions 186, therespective event recognizer 180 enters an event impossible, eventfailed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequentsub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other eventrecognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue totrack and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 includes metadata183 with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate howthe event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to activelyinvolved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata 183 includesconfigurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how eventrecognizers may interact with one another. In some embodiments, metadata183 includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicatewhether sub-events are delivered to varying levels in the view orprogrammatic hierarchy.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 activates eventhandler 190 associated with an event when one or more particularsub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent recognizer 180 delivers event information associated with theevent to event handler 190. Activating an event handler 190 is distinctfrom sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view.In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 throws a flag associated withthe recognized event, and event handler 190 associated with the flagcatches the flag and performs a predefined process.

In some embodiments, event delivery instructions 188 includes sub-eventdelivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-eventwithout activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event deliveryinstructions deliver event information to event handlers associated withthe series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlersassociated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved viewsreceive the event information and perform a predetermined process.

In some embodiments, data updater 176 creates and updates data used inapplication 136-1. For example, data updater 176 updates the telephonenumber used in contacts module 137, or stores a video file used in videoplayer module 145. In some embodiments, object updater 177 creates andupdates objects used in application 136-1. For example, object updater176 creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of auser-interface object. GUI updater 178 updates the GUI. For example, GUIupdater 178 prepares display information and sends it to graphics module132 for display on a touch-sensitive display.

In some embodiments, event handler(s) 190 includes or has access to dataupdater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178. In someembodiments, data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178are included in a single module of a respective application 136-1 orapplication view 191. In other embodiments, they are included in two ormore software modules.

It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding eventhandling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies toother forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices 100 withinput-devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens, e.g.,coordinating mouse movement and mouse button presses with or withoutsingle or multiple keyboard presses or holds, user movements taps,drags, scrolls, etc., on touch-pads, pen stylus inputs, movement of thedevice, oral instructions, detected eye movements, biometric inputs,and/or any combination thereof, which may be utilized as inputscorresponding to sub-events which define an event to be recognized.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device 100 having a touchscreen 112 in accordance with some embodiments. The touch screen maydisplay one or more graphics within user interface (UI) 200. In thisembodiment, as well as others described below, a user may select one ormore of the graphics by making contact or touching the graphics, forexample, with one or more fingers 202 (not drawn to scale in the figure)or one or more styluses 203 (not drawn to scale in the figure). In someembodiments, selection of one or more graphics occurs when the userbreaks contact with the one or more graphics. In some embodiments, thecontact may include a gesture, such as one or more taps, one or moreswipes (from left to right, right to left, upward and/or downward)and/or a rolling of a finger (from right to left, left to right, upwardand/or downward) that has made contact with device 100. In someembodiments, inadvertent contact with a graphic may not select thegraphic. For example, a swipe gesture that sweeps over an applicationicon may not select the corresponding application when the gesturecorresponding to selection is a tap.

Device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home”or menu button 204. As described previously, menu button 204 may be usedto navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may beexecuted on device 100. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menubutton is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen112.

In one embodiment, device 100 includes touch screen 112, menu button204, push button 206 for powering the device on/off and locking thedevice, volume adjustment button(s) 208, Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card slot 210, head set jack 212, and docking/charging externalport 124. Push button 206 may be used to turn the power on/off on thedevice by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressedstate for a predefined time interval; to lock the device by depressingthe button and releasing the button before the predefined time intervalhas elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process.In an alternative embodiment, device 100 also may accept verbal inputfor activation or deactivation of some functions through microphone 113.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments. Device 300 need not be portable. In some embodiments,device 300 is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer,a multimedia player device, a navigation device, an educational device(such as a child's learning toy), a gaming system, or a control device(e.g., a home or industrial controller). Device 300 typically includesone or more processing units (CPU's) 310, one or more network or othercommunications interfaces 360, memory 370, and one or more communicationbuses 320 for interconnecting these components. Communication buses 320may include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) that interconnectsand controls communications between system components. Device 300includes input/output (I/O) interface 330 comprising display 340, whichis typically a touch screen display. I/O interface 330 also may includea keyboard and/or mouse (or other pointing device) 350 and touchpad 355.Memory 370 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM or other random access solid state memory devices; and mayinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or othernon-volatile solid state storage devices. Memory 370 may optionallyinclude one or more storage devices remotely located from CPU(s) 310. Insome embodiments, memory 370 stores programs, modules, and datastructures analogous to the programs, modules, and data structuresstored in memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 (FIG. 1), or asubset thereof. Furthermore, memory 370 may store additional programs,modules, and data structures not present in memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100. For example, memory 370 of device 300 maystore drawing module 380, presentation module 382, word processingmodule 384, website creation module 386, disk authoring module 388,and/or spreadsheet module 390, while memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100 (FIG. 1) may not store these modules.

Each of the above identified elements in FIG. 3A may be stored in one ormore of the previously mentioned memory devices. Each of the aboveidentified modules corresponds to a set of instructions for performing afunction described above. The above identified modules or programs(i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separatesoftware programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets ofthese modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in variousembodiments. In some embodiments, memory 370 may store a subset of themodules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 370may store additional modules and data structures not described above.

Though electronic device 300 is depicted as a multifunction deviceincluding I/O interface 330 that incorporates keyboard/mouse 350 andtouchpad 355, in some embodiments, electronic device 300-1, asillustrated in FIG. 3B, is a portable electronic device that usestouch-screen 112 without a keyboard, mouse, or independent touchpad. Insome embodiments, device 300 is a portable electronic device withtouch-screen 112, and is used principally as a portable media player.

For example, portable electronic device 300-1 includes touch-screen 112with width 112-w and height 112-h, which in this example are both 2inches. User's thumb 399, shown superimposed on touch-screen 112, isapproximately half the width 112-w or height 112-h of touch-screen 112.Accordingly, text entry with a typical soft keyboard displayed on touchscreen 112, such as a QWERTY-based keyboard, would be difficult toaccomplish on the exemplary embodiment of portable electronic device300-1 illustrated in FIG. 3B.

Thus, in some portable media player embodiments, touch-screen 112 mayhave physical dimensions of 2 inches or less in width and/or height. Insome portable media player embodiments, touch-screen 112 may have ascreen resolution of 600 pixels or less in width and/or height. In someportable media player embodiments, touch-screen 112 may have a screenresolution of 900 pixels or less in width and/or height. In someportable media player embodiments, touch-screen 112 may have a screenresolution of 1200 pixels or less in width and/or height.

In some embodiments, memory 370 may store a subset of the modules anddata structures identified above. In some portable media playerembodiments, electronic device 300-1 may be a smaller physical device,and typically would not include certain of the module, data structures,and applications identified above that would be used in full-featuredportable multifunction devices, e.g., as a portable electronic device300-1 with touch-screen 112, one or more of the following may not beincluded: telephone module 138, chart module 144, drawing module 380,presentation module 382, word processing module 384, website creationmodule 386, and disk authoring module 388.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)that may be implemented on portable multifunction device 100.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate exemplary user interfaces for a menu ofapplications on portable multifunction device 100 in accordance withsome embodiments. Similar user interfaces may be implemented on device300. In some embodiments, user interface 400A includes the followingelements, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Signal strength indicator(s) 402 for wireless communication(s),        such as cellular and Wi-Fi signals;    -   Time 404;    -   Bluetooth indicator 405;    -   Battery status indicator 406;    -   Tray 408 with icons for frequently used applications, such as:        -   Phone 138, which may include an indicator 414 of the number            of missed calls or voicemail messages;        -   E-mail client 140, which may include an indicator 410 of the            number of unread e-mails;        -   Browser 147; and        -   Music player 146; and    -   Icons for other applications, such as:        -   IM 141;        -   Image management 144;        -   Camera 143;        -   Video player 145;        -   Weather 149-1;        -   Stocks 149-2;        -   Workout support 142;        -   Calendar 148;        -   Calculator 149-3;        -   Alarm clock 149-4;        -   Dictionary 149-5; and        -   User-created widget 149-6.

In some embodiments, user interface 400B includes the followingelements, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   402, 404, 405, 406, 141, 148, 144, 143, 149-3, 149-2, 149-1,        149-4, 410, 414, 138, 140, and 147, as described above;    -   Map 154;    -   Notes 153;    -   Settings 412, which provides access to settings for device 100        and its various applications 136, as described further below;    -   Video and music player module 152, also referred to as iPod        (trademark of Apple Inc.) module 152; and    -   Online video module 155, also referred to as YouTube (trademark        of Google Inc.) module 155.

FIG. 4C illustrates an exemplary user interface on a device (e.g.,device 300, FIG. 3) with a touch-sensitive surface 451 (e.g., a tabletor touchpad 355, FIG. 3) that is separate from the display 450 (e.g.,touch screen display 112). Although many of the examples which followwill be given with reference to inputs on touch screen display 112(where the touch sensitive surface and the display are combined), insome embodiments, the device detects inputs on a touch-sensitive surfacethat is separate from the display, as shown in FIG. 4C. In someembodiments the touch sensitive surface (e.g., 451 in FIG. 4C) has aprimary axis (e.g., 452 in FIG. 4C) that corresponds to a primary axis(e.g., 453 in FIG. 4C) on the display (e.g., 450). In accordance withthese embodiments, the device detects contacts (e.g., 460 and 462 inFIG. 4C) with the touch-sensitive surface 451 at locations thatcorrespond to respective locations on the display (e.g., in FIG. 4C 460corresponds to 468 and 462 corresponds to 470). In this way, user inputs(e.g., contacts 460 and 462, and movements thereof) detected by thedevice on the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., 451 in FIG. 4C) are used bythe device to manipulate the user interface on the display (e.g., 450 inFIG. 4C) of the multifunction device when the touch-sensitive surface isseparate from the display. It should be understood that similar methodsmay be used for other user interfaces described herein.

Additionally, while the following examples are given primarily withreference to finger inputs (e.g., finger contacts, finger tap gestures,finger swipe gestures), it should be understood that, in someembodiments, one or more of the finger inputs are replaced with inputfrom another input device (e.g., a mouse based input or stylus input).For example, a swipe gesture may be replaced with a mouse click (e.g.,instead of a contact) followed by movement of the cursor along the pathof the swipe (e.g., instead of movement of the contact). As anotherexample, a tap gesture may be replaced with a mouse click while thecursor is located over the location of the tap gesture (e.g., instead ofdetection of the contact followed by ceasing to detect the contact).Similarly, when multiple user inputs are simultaneously detected, itshould be understood that multiple computer mice may be usedsimultaneously, or a mouse and finger contacts may be usedsimultaneously.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)and associated processes that may be implemented on a multifunctiondevice with a display and a touch-sensitive surface, such as device 300,electronic device 300-1, or a portable multifunction device 100.

The exemplary user interfaces illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5V and theprocesses in FIGS. 6A-6B may be used effectively on any computingdevice, such as laptop computers, desktop computers, server computers,workstations, tablet computers, navigation devices, educational devices,gaming systems, consumer electronics, or control devices. The exemplaryuser interfaces illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5V and the processes in FIGS.6A-6B are particularly well suited for some portable media playerembodiments that are smaller physical devices, such as the exampleelectronic device 300-1 shown in FIG. 3B, which has a 2 inchtouch-screen 112. These smaller physical devices typically do not havesufficient display space for traditional soft keyboard embodiments,e.g., standard (QWERTY) and/or non-standard configurations of symbols onthe displayed icons of a soft keyboard, and as such, the exemplary userinterfaces illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5V and the processes in FIGS. 6A-6Bassist in usage of these smaller devices.

FIGS. 5A-5V illustrate exemplary user interfaces for managing userinterface content, including performing character entry, in accordancewith some embodiments. The user interfaces in these figures are used toillustrate the processes described below, including the processes inFIGS. 6A-6B.

Note that the user interfaces in FIGS. 5A-5V are merely exemplary, andas such are not drawn to a specific scale. In some embodiments, moretext and/or user interface objects may be displayed. In someembodiments, less text and/or user interface objects may be displayed.In some embodiments, text and/or user interface objects are displayed ata larger scale. In some embodiments, text and/or user interface objectsare displayed at a smaller scale.

UI 500A (FIG. 5A) depicts an exemplary user interface UI 500A forperforming character entry that is displayed on electronic device 300-1.In this example, the user interface includes a listing of media content,specifically, listing of musical compositions 501, with listings 501-1through 501-6. Listing display content indicia 502 is displayed on touchscreen 112, i.e., a scroll bar that indicates how much media content isdisplayed, and the current relative position in the listing of mediacontent. Near an edge of touch screen 112, a user has made, and thedevice has detected, a finger contact 505-A on the touch screen 112. Inthe exemplary user interface UI 500A, finger contact 505-A correspondsto a first part of a gesture to start a text entry mode.

UI 500B (FIG. 5B) illustrates that after the finger contact 505-A isdetected on the touch screen (in UI 500A), the device enters a textentry mode, displaying a character entry area 507 and a characterselection indicia 509, which represents a plurality of characters. Inalternate embodiments, other user input techniques may be used toinitiate text entry modes. In this example, the character selectionindicia 509 is displayed at a first predefined location, namely thecharacter selection indicia 509 is displayed at a first predefinedlocation that is adjacent to the left edge of touch-screen 112. Thecharacter selection indicia 509 also includes locations corresponding torespective characters in the plurality of characters. In the example ofUI 500B, the plurality of characters in the character selection indicia509 is displayed in a single row (although other arrangements for theplurality of characters are possible in alternative embodiments), andthe plurality of characters represented by the character selectionindicia 509 includes a complete character set, (e.g., A-Z and 0-9,though in some embodiments, a complete character set may be consideredto include all letters of an alphabet or writing system).

While character selection indicia 509 is displayed adjacent to the leftedge of touch-screen 112 in UI 500B, in some embodiments, a characterselection indicia may be displayed adjacent to the right edge of adisplay, the top of a display, the bottom of a display, or any suitablelocation.

UI 500B also illustrates temporary character 511, which represents acharacter to be selected. In this example, temporary character 511-Bdepicts a ‘K’ character, and is displayed at a second predefinedlocation, i.e., the center of touch-screen 112, where the secondpredefined location is distinct from the first predefined location forcharacter selection indicia 509.

Further, in this example, character selection indicia 509 includesrespective character indicia 509-1, 509-2, etc., which are displayed ata predefined respective character indicia size (e.g., three pixelssquare, four pixels square, three point font, four point font, or anysuitable size; in some embodiments, the predefined respective characterindicia size is not legible as readable text when displayed). Temporarycharacter 511-B is displayed with a predefined character size that islarger than the predefined respective character indicia size ofcharacter selection indicia 509 so that a user may easily read thecharacter to be selected as displayed. In some embodiments, the heightof temporary character 511 is at least one half the height of touchscreen 112 (e.g., 50, 60 or 70 percent of the height of touch screen112). In some embodiments, the height of temporary character 511 isbetween 0.5-1.0 inches.

UI 500B also illustrates detecting on touch screen 112 movement 505-B-1of the finger contact 505-B over the character selection indicia 509.

UI 500C (FIG. 5C) illustrates that as the finger contact 505 moves overthe character selection indicia 509 (as depicted in UI 500B, 505-B-1),the temporary character 511-C is updated with respective characters tobe selected. Specifically, in this example, UI 500B shows temporarycharacter 511-B as the character ‘K’ and after finger contact 505 moves505-B-1 over character selection indicia 509, temporary character 511-Cis updated with the character ‘M’ in UI 500C.

UI 500C also illustrates finger contact 505-C moving 505-C-1 on thetouch screen 112 in a movement corresponding to a character selectiongesture. In this example, the movement 505-C-1 of the characterselection gesture is a sweeping motion starting over character selectionindicia 509, which proceeds along a path towards the center of touchscreen 112. In some embodiments, the movement of the character selectiongesture emulates throwing the character into the center of the display.In some embodiments, the movement of the character selection gesture isa swipe movement towards character entry area 507. In some embodiments,the movement of the character selection gesture emulates throwing thecharacter into character entry area 507. In some embodiments, themovement of the character selection gesture is a swipe movement towardsany suitable location.

UI 500D (FIG. 5D) illustrates that in response to detecting thecharacter selection gesture (i.e., the movement 505-C-1 of fingercontact 505-C on touch screen 112 in UI 500C), a character is selectedthat corresponds to the temporary character 511-D for placement in thecharacter entry area 507. In this example, the ‘M’ character 511-D,which is displayed in a temporary overlay, is selected. Additionally,the ‘M’ character corresponding to the temporary character 511-D isappended to the character entry area 507.

In the exemplary embodiment of UI 500D, the process of appending thecharacter corresponding to the temporary character to the characterentry area includes displaying an animation of the temporary charactermoving to the character entry area (i.e., animated images 513-1, 513-2,and 513-3 of the temporary character moving to the character entry area507).

Though not explicitly illustrated in UI 500D, finger contact 505-D islifted from touch screen 112.

UI 500E-UI 500K (FIGS. 5E-5K) illustrate processes of selecting andinserting characters using the character selection indicia 509,temporary character 511, and additional character selection gesturesmade with contacts 506 and 508, so that in UI 500K (FIG. 5K), the string‘Moz’ is displayed in character entry area 507. The processes in UI500E-UI 500K are analogous to the foregoing description of UI 500A-UI500D.

Specifically, in UI 500E finger contact 506-A moves 506-A-1 overcharacter selection indicia 509, and in response, in UI 500F, temporarycharacter 511-F is updated with the character ‘O.’ In UI 500F, fingercontact 506-B moves 506-B-1 on the touch screen 112 in a movementcorresponding to a character selection gesture, and in UI 500G, thecharacter ‘O,’ which corresponds to temporary character 511-G, isappended to character entry area 507. Similarly, in UI 500H, fingercontact 508-A moves 508-A-1 over character selection indicia 509, and inresponse, in UI 500I, temporary character 511-I is updated with thecharacter ‘Z.’ In UI 500I, finger contact 508-B moves 506-8-1 on thetouch screen 112 in a movement corresponding to a character selectiongesture, and in UI 500J, the character ‘Z,’ which corresponds totemporary character 511-J, is appended to character entry area 507.

UI 500K illustrates that after lift off of finger contact 508 isdetected at 508-C in UI 500J (at the end of the character selectiongesture), display of temporary character 511 is terminated.

UI 500K depicts exemplary search execution gesture 510, which in thiscase, is a tap gesture within character entry area 507, although anysuitable gesture, command, or activation via software-implemented orphysical buttons may be used.

UI 500L (FIG. 5L) illustrates that in response to search executiongesture 510, listing of musical compositions 501 is updated to showresults containing the string “Moz” that was entered in character entryarea 507. Specifically, listing of musical compositions 501 is updatedwith listings 501-7 through 501-11.

Though the search illustrated in UI 500A-UI 500L is performed byentering a string of characters, then performing the search based on theentered string of characters, other search techniques are possible. Forexample, an incremental search may be performed where as each characteris entered into the search string being formed in character entry area507, the listing of musical compositions 501 is updated with searchresults corresponding to the search string then populated in characterentry area 507, i.e., as a user enters ‘M,’ the listing of musicalcompositions 501 is updated with search results containing ‘M,’ thenwhen the user appends the letter ‘o’ so that the search string populatedin character entry area 507 is ‘Mo,’ the listing of musical compositions501 is updated with search results containing ‘Mo,’ etc.

UI 500M (FIG. 5M) illustrates exemplary character deletion gesture madewith finger contact 515, including movement 515-1, which, in thisexample, emulates a user removing a character from character entry area507. In some embodiments, a character deletion gesture may emulate auser moving an appended character from the character entry area 507 backto a displayed character selection indicia.

UI 500M (FIG. 5N) illustrates that in response to character deletiongesture 515, the most recently added character in the string incharacter entry area 507 is deleted. In this example, the ‘z’ is removedfrom the character string ‘Moz’ in an animation where the charactershrinks and dissolves to invisibility.

UI 500O (FIG. 5O) illustrates that after character deletion gesture 515in UI 500N, the listing of musical compositions 501 is updated to showresults containing the string “Mo” following the deletion of the ‘z’character from character entry area 507. Specifically, listing ofmusical compositions 501 that contained listings 501-7 through 501-11has had listings 507-12 and 507-13 added. In this example, theaforementioned method of incremental search updating is used to managethe display of listing of musical compositions 501.

UI 500P (FIG. 5P) illustrates an alternative exemplary embodiment forperforming character entry that is displayed on electronic device 300-1.In this example, the user interface includes a listing of media content,specifically, listing of musical compositions 521, with listings 521-1through 521-6. Listing display content indicia 522 is displayed on touchscreen 112, i.e., a scroll bar that indicates how much media content isdisplayed, and the current relative position in the listing of mediacontent. Near an edge of touch screen 112, a user has made, and thedevice has detected, a finger contact 525 on the touch screen 112. Inthe exemplary user interface UI 500P, finger contact 525 corresponds toa first part of a gesture to start a text entry mode.

UI 500Q (FIG. 5Q) illustrates that after finger contact 525 is detected,the device enters a text entry mode, displaying character entry area 526and character selection indicia 527, which represents a plurality ofcharacters. Character selection indicia 527 in UI 500Q represents afirst portion of a character set, e.g., ‘A’-‘N,’ where 527-1 represents‘A’, 527-2 represents ‘B,’ etc.

UI 500Q also illustrates temporary character 530-Q, which represents acharacter to be selected. In this example, temporary character 530-Qdepicts an ‘E’ character.

UI 500Q also illustrates user gesture 525-1 (made with finger contact525), which, in this case, is a drag gesture over character selectionindicia 527.

UI 500R (FIG. 5R) illustrates that in response to detecting user gesture525-1, temporary character 530-R is updated to depict an ‘M’ character.

UI 500R also illustrates user gesture 525-2 (made with finger contact525), which, in this case, is a character selection gesture moving awayfrom character selection indicia 527 towards the center of touch screen112; specifically, user gesture 525-2 is a sweeping gesture movingtowards the center of touch screen 112.

UI 500S (FIG. 5S) illustrates that in response to detecting user gesture525-2, (i.e., the movement of finger contact 525 on touch screen 112 inUI 500R), a character is selected that corresponds to the temporarycharacter 530-S for placement in the character entry area 526. In thisexample, the ‘M’ character, which is displayed as temporary character530-S, is selected. Additionally, the ‘M’ character corresponding totemporary character 530-S is appended to the character entry area 526.

UI 500S also illustrates a user navigation gesture made with fingercontact 531, which, in this case, is a swipe gesture 531-1 overcharacter selection indicia 527.

UI 500T (FIG. 5T) illustrates that in response to detecting usernavigation gesture 531-1, character selection indicia 527 is updated torepresent a second portion of the character set, i.e., ‘O’ through ‘2.’UI 500T also illustrates user navigation gesture 532-1 (made with fingercontact 532), which in this case is another swipe gesture over characterselection indicia 527.

UI 500T also illustrates that temporary character 530-T depicts an ‘R’character.

UI 500U (FIG. 5U) illustrates that in response to detecting usernavigation gesture 532-1, character selection indicia 527 is updated torepresent a third portion of the character set, i.e., ‘3’ through thecharacter ‘?.’

UI 500U also illustrates a user gesture made with finger contact 534,which, in this case, is a character deletion gesture moving 534-1 awayfrom character entry area 526 towards the middle of touch screen 112.

UI 500V (FIG. 5V) illustrates that in response to user gesture 534-1,the character ‘M’ is removed from character entry area 526. In thisexample, animation 536 shows the character ‘M’ moving away fromcharacter entry area 526, shrinking, and then disappearing in a poof ofsmoke. In some embodiments, the last letter added to the character entryarea is removed in accordance with a user gesture moving away from thecharacter entry area, and as the user gesture approaches the center ofthe display, the last letter added to the character entry areadisappears in a poof of smoke.

While the exemplary user interfaces depicted in FIGS. 5A-5V illustrateusing character entry as part of a search, the character entrytechniques and methods discussed herein may be used for any suitablepurpose, e.g., entering text in a web-browser search field, draftingnotes, composing text for instant messages, or posting to Internet-basedapplications.

In some embodiments, a method displays a user interface on atouch-screen. The user interface includes a dock of characterspositioned on a peripheral edge of the displayed user interface. Inresponse to detecting a first gesture on the displayed dock, one of thecharacters from the dock of characters is displayed. The displayedcharacter is displayed at a location on the touch-screen different fromthe dock of characters. In response to detecting a second gesture on thetouch-screen, the displayed character is selected for creating acharacter string.

In some embodiments, a system is provided that includes a touch-screendisplay and a processor. The processor is configured to display a userinterface on the touch-screen. The user interface includes a dock ofcharacters positioned on a peripheral edge of the displayed userinterface. The processor is also configured to: in response to detectinga first gesture on the displayed dock, display one of the charactersfrom the dock of characters, the displayed character being displayed ata location on the touch-screen different from the dock of characters;and, in response to detecting a second gesture on the touch-screen,select the displayed character for creating a character string.

FIGS. 6A-6B are flow diagrams illustrating a method 600 of managing userinterface content, including performing character entry, in accordancewith some embodiments. The method 600 is performed at a multifunctiondevice (e.g., device 300, FIG. 3, or portable multifunction device 100,FIG. 1) with a display and a touch-sensitive surface. The display istypically a touch-sensitive display (e.g., FIG. 3B electronic device300-1). In some embodiments, the display is separate from thetouch-sensitive surface. Some operations in method 600 may be combinedand/or the order of some operations may be changed.

As described below, the method 600 provides an intuitive way to manageuser interface content, including performing character entry, withoutusing a keyboard. The method reduces the cognitive burden on a user whenperforming character entry without a keyboard, thereby creating a moreefficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated computingdevices, enabling a user to perform character entry without using akeyboard faster and more efficiently conserves power and increases thetime between battery charges. The method provides for one-handedcharacter input. For handheld devices, a single hand may be used to bothenter characters and hold the device. In addition, the method provides away to easily input different characters from a character set using asingle finger. Such single-finger character input is particularlyadvantageous in small form-factor electronic devices, where traditionalhard keyboards and soft keyboards may be difficult (or impossible) touse given device size and screen size constraints.

The device displays (602) on the touch-sensitive display a characterentry area, and a character selection indicia that represents aplurality of characters, wherein the character selection indicia isdisplayed at a first predefined location, and the character selectionindicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters (e.g., FIG. 5B, character selection indicia 509is displayed at a first predefined location, represents a plurality ofcharacters, and the first predefined location is adjacent to the leftedge of touch-screen 112; character selection indicia 509 includeslocations corresponding to respective characters in the plurality ofcharacters; see also character entry area 507).

In some embodiments, the plurality of characters may include alphabeticcharacters, numeric characters, symbols, punctuation, etc. In someembodiments, the first predefined location may be at or near an edge ofa touch-sensitive display, or at an extremum of the display.

In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive display has physical dimensionsof at least one of: 2 inches or less in width, and 2 inches or less inheight (604) (e.g., FIG. 3B, touch screen 112).

In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive display has a screen resolutionof at least one of: 600 pixels or less in width, and 600 pixels or lessin height (606).

In some embodiments, the character selection indicia is configured to bedisplayed when the portable electronic device is in a text entry mode(610) (e.g., FIG. 5B illustrates that after the finger contact 505-A isdetected on the touch screen in FIG. 5A, the device enters a text entrymode, displaying character selection indicia 509).

In some embodiments, the plurality of characters is selected from thegroup consisting of alphabetic characters, numeric characters, symbols,punctuation characters, Arabic script characters, Cyrillic characters,Greek characters, emoji symbols, emoticon symbols, Asian characters suchas sinographs, Japanese Kanji, katakana, or hiragana, etc., Devanagaricharacters, Perso-Arabic characters, Gurmukhi characters, and Hebrewcharacters (612).

The device detects on the touch-sensitive display a point of contact bya user (e.g., a finger contact on the touch-sensitive display), over thecharacter selection indicia (614) (e.g., FIG. 5B, finger contact 505-Bon touch screen 112 over character selection indicia 509). In someembodiments, rather than detecting a point of contact, the devicedetects an object in proximity to the touch-sensitive display, e.g., theobject may be a user's finger, a stylus, etc, that is in proximity tothe touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, rather than detectinga point of contact, the device detects a near contact between thetouch-sensitive display and an object, such as a user's finger, astylus, etc.

In response to detecting the point of contact over the characterselection indicia, the device displays (616) on the touch-sensitivedisplay at a second predefined location distinct from the firstpredefined location a temporary character that represents a character tobe selected (616) (e.g., FIG. 5B, temporary character 511-B depicts a‘K’ character which represents the character to be selected in responseto detecting a character selection gesture, and temporary character511-B is displayed at a second predefined location, i.e., the center oftouch-screen 112, which is distinct from the first predefined locationwhere the character selection indicia 509 is displayed).

In some embodiments, displaying the temporary character 511 is optional.

In some embodiments, the temporary character is opaque, while inalternative embodiments, the temporary character is semi-transparent.

In some embodiments, the temporary character 511 is displayed as anoverlay. In some embodiments, the temporary character is displayed as anopaque overlay, while in alternative embodiments, the temporarycharacter is displayed as a semi-transparent overlay.

In some embodiments, the character selection indicia includes respectivecharacter indicia that are displayed at a predefined respectivecharacter indicia size; the temporary character is displayed with apredefined character size; and, the predefined respective characterindicia size is smaller than the predefined character size (617) (e.g.,FIG. 5B, character selection indicia 509 includes respective characterindicia 509-1, 509-2, etc., which are displayed at a predefinedrespective character indicia size; temporary character 511-B isdisplayed with a predefined character size that is larger than thepredefined respective character indicia size of character selectionindicia 509).

While displaying the temporary character, the device detects (618) onthe touch-sensitive display a character selection gesture, such as aswipe, a drag, liftoff of the point of contact, a pause in motion of thepoint of contact for at least a predefined duration such as 1 second, adouble tap, etc., i.e., any suitable gesture for confirming a characterselection (618) (e.g., FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D illustrate an exemplarycharacter selection gesture made with contact 505, which moves away fromthe character selection indicia 509 towards the center of the touchscreen 112 or towards the character entry area 507).

In some embodiments, prior to detecting the character selection gesture,the device detects on the touch-sensitive display movement of the pointof contact over the character selection indicia, and as the point ofcontact moves over the character selection indicia, the device updatesthe temporary character with respective characters to be selected inresponse to detecting the character selection gesture (620) (e.g., FIG.5C illustrates that as the finger contact 505-C moves 505-C-1 over thecharacter selection indicia 509 (as depicted in FIG. 5B, which showstemporary character 511-B with the character ‘K’), temporary character511 is updated with respective characters to be selected, i.e.,temporary character 511-C is updated with the character ‘M’).

In some embodiments, as the point of contact coincides with characterselection indicia locations corresponding to different, respectivecharacters in the plurality of characters, the device updates thetemporary character representing the respective character correspondingto the location of the point of contact in the character selectionindicia.

In some embodiments, the device displays the character selection indiciaat the first predefined location with a predefined indicia size (e.g.,three pixels square, four pixels square, three point font, and thusillegible, four point font, or any suitable size).

In some embodiments, the temporary character is displayed with apredefined character size that is larger than the first character size,e.g., 8 point, 10 point, 12 point 14 point, 18 point, 20 point, 24point, or any suitable size.

In response to detecting the character selection gesture, the deviceselects (622) a character corresponding to the temporary character forplacement in the character entry area, and the device appends thecharacter corresponding to the temporary character to the characterentry area (e.g., FIG. 5D in response to detecting the characterselection gesture, i.e., movement 505-C-1 of finger contact 505-C ontouch screen 112 in FIG. 5C, the ‘M’ character, which is displayed intemporary character 511-D, is selected and appended to the characterentry area 507).

In some embodiments, appending the character corresponding to thetemporary character to the character entry area includes displaying ananimation of the temporary character moving to the character entry area(624) (e.g., FIG. 5D, animated images 513-1, 513-2, and 513-3 of thetemporary character 511 move to the character entry area 507).

In some embodiments, in response to detecting the character selectiongesture, the device ceases to display the temporary character (626)(e.g., FIG. 5K after the character selection gesture made with contact508 (in UI 500I and UI 500J) is detected, display of temporary character511 is terminated (in UI 500K)).

In some embodiments, the device detects on the touch-sensitive display acharacter deletion gesture (e.g., a gesture substantially opposite ofthe character selection gesture or a gesture that begins in text entryarea 507 and moves away from area 507) and in response to detecting thecharacter deletion gesture, the device deletes a character from thecharacter entry area (e.g., deleting the most recently added character)(628) (e.g., FIG. 5M, character deletion gesture 515, and FIG. 5N, inresponse to character deletion gesture 515, the ‘z’ is removed from thecharacter string ‘Moz’).

In some embodiments, the character selection indicia at the firstpredefined location is a plurality of characters located adjacent to anedge of the touch-sensitive display (630) or a representation of aplurality of characters (e.g., FIG. 5B, character selection indicia 509,FIG. 5Q character selection indicia 527).

In some embodiments, the character selection indicia is configured to bedisplayed on the touch-sensitive display according to user handdominance, i.e., left-handed users, right-handed users, or per userpreference. (632)

In some embodiments, the plurality of characters in the characterselection indicia is displayed in a single row or column (634) (e.g.,FIG. 5B, character selection indicia 509, FIG. 5Q character selectionindicia 527).

In some embodiments, the plurality of characters represented by thecharacter selection indicia includes a complete character set (636)(e.g., FIG. 5B, character selection indicia 509).

In some embodiments, the plurality of characters in the characterselection indicia is a first portion of a character set (e.g., FIG. 5Qcharacter selection indicia 527); and the device detects a usernavigation gesture over the character selection indicia (e.g., swipegestures over the character selection indicia, such as FIG. 5S, usernavigation gesture 531-1, which is a swipe gesture over characterselection indicia 527), and in response to detecting the user navigationgesture, the device updates the character selection indicia to representa second portion of the character set (e.g., FIG. 5T, in response todetecting user navigation gesture 531-1, character selection indicia 527is updated to represent a second portion of the character set, i.e., ‘O’through ‘2’) (638).

In the case of large character sets, a succession of user navigationgestures over the character selection indicia may be used to navigatethrough the entire character set (e.g., user navigation gestures 531-1and 532-1 in FIGS. 5S and 5T, respectively, are used to navigate throughan entire character set.).

The operations in the information processing methods described above maybe implemented by running one or more functional modules in informationprocessing apparatus such as general purpose processors or applicationspecific chips. These modules, combinations of these modules, and/ortheir combination with general hardware (e.g., as described above withrespect to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 3) are all included within the scope ofprotection of the invention.

The operations described above with reference to FIGS. 6A-6B may beimplemented by components depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C. For example,detection operations 614 and 618 and selection operation 622 may beimplemented by event sorter 170, event recognizer 180, and event handler190. Event monitor 171 in event sorter 170 detects a contact ontouch-sensitive display 112, and event dispatcher module 174 deliversthe event information to application 136-1. A respective eventrecognizer 180 of application 136-1 compares the event information torespective event definitions 186, and determines whether a first contactat a first location on the touch-sensitive surface corresponds to apredefined event or sub-event, such as selection of an object on a userinterface. When a respective predefined event or sub-event is detected,event recognizer 180 activates an event handler 180 associated with thedetection of the event or sub-event. Event handler 180 may utilize orcall data updater 176 or object updater 177 to update the applicationinternal state 192. In some embodiments, event handler 180 accesses arespective GUI updater 178 to update what is displayed by theapplication. Similarly, it would be clear to a person having ordinaryskill in the art how other processes can be implemented based on thecomponents depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: at a portable electronicdevice with a touch-sensitive display: displaying on the touch-sensitivedisplay: a character entry area, and a character selection indicia thatrepresents a plurality of characters, wherein: the character selectionindicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the characterselection indicia includes locations corresponding to respectivecharacters in the plurality of characters; detecting on thetouch-sensitive display a point of contact by a user over the characterselection indicia; in response to detecting the point of contact overthe character selection indicia, displaying a temporary character on thetouch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinct fromthe first predefined location and a location of the character entryarea; detecting on the touch-sensitive display movement of the point ofcontact over the character selection indicia; as the point of contactmoves over the character selection indicia, updating the temporarycharacter displayed at the second predefined location with a respectivetemporary character such that the respective temporary characterreplaces the prior temporary character at the same second predefinedlocation, the respective temporary character corresponding to acharacter to be selected in response to detecting a character selectiongesture; while displaying the respective temporary character, detectingon the touch-sensitive display the character selection gesture, thecharacter selection gesture being a swipe gesture toward the secondpredefined location; and, in response to detecting the characterselection gesture, selecting the character corresponding to therespective temporary character for placement in the character entry areaand appending the character corresponding to the respective temporarycharacter to the character entry area.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising in response to detecting the character selection gesture,ceasing to display the temporary character.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein appending the character corresponding to the temporary characterto the character entry area includes displaying an animation of thetemporary character moving to the character entry area.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the character selection indicia at the first predefinedlocation is a plurality of characters located adjacent to an edge of thetouch-sensitive display.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the characterselection indicia is configured to be displayed on the touch-sensitivedisplay according to user hand dominance.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the touch-sensitive display has physical dimensions of at leastone of: 2 inches or less in width, and 2 inches or less in height. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive display has a screenresolution of at least one of: 600 pixels or less in width, and 600pixels or less in height.
 8. A portable electronic device, comprising: atouch-sensitive display; one or more processors; memory; and one or moreprograms, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory andconfigured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or moreprograms including instructions for: displaying on the touch-sensitivedisplay: a character entry area, and a character selection indicia thatrepresents a plurality of characters, wherein: the character selectionindicia is displayed at a first predefined location, and the characterselection indicia includes locations corresponding to respectivecharacters in the plurality of characters; detecting on thetouch-sensitive display a point of contact by a over the characterselection indicia; in response to detecting the point of contact overthe character selection indicia, displaying a temporary character on thetouch-sensitive display at a second predefined location distinct fromthe first predefined location and a location of the character entryarea; detecting on the touch-sensitive display movement of the point ofcontact over the character selection indicia; as the point of contactmoves over the character selection indicia, updating the temporarycharacter displayed at the second predefined location with a respectivetemporary character such that the respective temporary characterreplaces the prior temporary character at the same second predefinedlocation, the respective temporary character corresponding to acharacter to be selected in response to detecting a character selectiongesture; while displaying the respective temporary character, detectingon the touch-sensitive display the character selection gesture, thecharacter selection gesture being a swipe gesture toward the secondpredefined location; and, in response to detecting the characterselection gesture, selecting the character corresponding to therespective temporary character for placement in the character entry areaand appending the character corresponding to the respective temporarycharacter to the character entry area.
 9. The portable electronic deviceof claim 8, wherein: the character selection indicia includes respectivecharacter indicia that are displayed at a predefined respectivecharacter indicia size; the temporary character is displayed with apredefined character size; and, the predefined respective characterindicia size is smaller than the predefined character size.
 10. Theportable electronic device of claim 8, wherein the touch-sensitivedisplay has physical dimensions of at least one of: 2 inches or less inwidth, and 2 inches or less in height.
 11. The portable electronicdevice of claim 8, wherein the touch-sensitive display has a screenresolution of at least one of: 400 pixels or less in width, and 400pixels or less in height.
 12. The portable electronic device of claim 8,further comprising in response to detecting the character selectiongesture, ceasing to display the temporary character.
 13. The portableelectronic device of claim 8, including instructions for, in response todetecting the character selection gesture, ceasing to display thetemporary character.
 14. The portable electronic device of claim 8,wherein appending the character corresponding to the temporary characterto the character entry area includes displaying an animation of thetemporary character moving to the character entry area.
 15. The portableelectronic device of claim 8, wherein the character selection indicia atthe first predefined location is a plurality of characters locatedadjacent to an edge of the touch-sensitive display.
 16. The portableelectronic device of claim 15, wherein the character selection indiciais configured to be displayed on the touch-sensitive display accordingto user hand dominance.
 17. A graphical user interface on a portablemultifunction device with a touch-sensitive display, the graphical userinterface comprising: a character entry area and a character selectionindicia that represents a plurality of characters, the character entryarea and character selection indicia being displayed on the touchsensitive display, wherein the character selection indicia is displayedat a first predefined location, and the character selection indiciaincludes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters; wherein: a point of contact is detected overthe character selection indicia, wherein the point of contact isdetected on the touch-sensitive display; in response to detecting apoint of contact over the character selection indicia, a temporarycharacter is displayed on the touch-sensitive display at a secondpredefined location distinct from the first predefined location and alocation of the character entry area; movement of the point of contactover the character selection indicia is detected on the touch-sensitivedisplay; as the point of contact moves over the character selectionindicia, the temporary character displayed at the second predefinedlocation is updated with a respective temporary character such that therespective temporary character replaces the prior temporary character atthe same second predefined location, the respective temporary charactercorresponding to a character to be selected in response to detecting acharacter selection gesture; while displaying the respective temporarycharacter, a character selection gesture is detected on thetouch-sensitive display, the character selection gesture being a swipegesture toward the second predefined location; and, in response todetecting the character selection gesture, the character correspondingto the respective temporary character is selected for placement in thecharacter entry area and the character corresponding to the respectivetemporary character is appended to the character entry area.
 18. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or moreprograms, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which whenexecuted by a portable multifunction device with a touch-sensitivedisplay, cause the device to: display on the touch-sensitive display: acharacter entry area, and a character selection indicia that representsa plurality of characters, wherein: the character selection indicia isdisplayed at a first predefined location, and the character selectionindicia includes locations corresponding to respective characters in theplurality of characters; detect on the touch-sensitive display a pointof contact by a over the character selection indicia; in response todetecting the point of contact over the character selection indicia,display a temporary character on the touch-sensitive display at a secondpredefined location distinct from the first predefined location and alocation of the character entry area; detect on the touch-sensitivedisplay movement of the point of contact over the character selectionindicia; as the point of contact moves over the character selectionindicia, update the temporary character displayed at the secondpredefined location with a respective temporary character such that therespective temporary character replaces the prior temporary character atthe same second predefined location, the respective temporary charactercorresponding to a character to be selected in response to detecting acharacter selection gesture; while displaying the respective temporarycharacter, detect on the touch-sensitive display the character selectiongesture, the character selection gesture being a swipe gesture towardthe second predefined location; and, in response to detecting thecharacter selection gesture, select the character corresponding to therespective temporary character for placement in the character entry areaand appending the character corresponding to the respective temporarycharacter to the character entry area.
 19. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 18, including instructions which cause the device to, inresponse to detecting the character selection gesture, cease to displaythe temporary character.
 20. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 18, wherein appending the character corresponding to the temporarycharacter to the character entry area includes displaying an animationof the temporary character moving to the character entry area.
 21. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the characterselection indicia at the first predefined location is a plurality ofcharacters located adjacent to an edge of the touch-sensitive display.22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein thecharacter selection indicia is configured to be displayed on thetouch-sensitive display according to user hand dominance.
 23. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein thetouch-sensitive display has physical dimensions of at least one of: 2inches or less in width, and 2 inches or less in height.
 24. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein thetouch-sensitive display has a screen resolution of at least one of: 400pixels or less in width, and 400 pixels or less in height.